Learning
by Adages
Summary: AU. When Bella Swan moves to Forks, she’s older, wiser, and comes with a vampiric new friend. Now there’s this cute student who won’t stop glaring at her; what’s a girl to do? Canon pairs, eventually.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything, except for Altair, who is inexplicably awesome for being a random thought in my head.

**A/N****:** I went to Forks yesterday, and it seems to have made me creative, yay. (?) Anyway, this will probably be B/E, depending on how I feel once the story gets that far, but the Cullen's (and Edward) will definitely make an appearance in the next chapter. This is a set-up chapter, mostly.

**Summary:** AU. When Bella Swan moves to Forks, she's older, wiser, and comes with a vampiric new friend. Now there's this cute student who won't stop glaring at her; what's a girl to do?

* * *

I tiredly covered a yawn with one hand, pulling into the driveway. Charlie was already standing outside, the roar of my car's engine dying out as I pulled out the key and stepped out, giving my father a smile.

"Bella," he said, smiling a little. I grinned and gave him a hug.

"Hey, Dad." I thought of him as Charlie, still, though 'dad' came easier nowadays.

"So, come inside," he said, shooing me in. I looked around the small place with nostalgia; it had been years since I last visited Charlie here. The last time had to be when I was fourteen – after that, I had insisted on staying away from the dreadful Forks weather. Now, though…

I mentally shook myself out of that train of thought as Charlie started to look a little anxious. "It's great here, Dad. Hasn't changed a bit."

"Yeah, well," he said, sheepishly embarrassed. "Your room's still a bit of a mess…"

"I'll only be trespassing for a few days," I assured him, smiling a little. "The sale is finalized; I'm just waiting for my furniture."

Referring to, of course, my new house. It was on a gorgeous plot of land, edging on the thick forest nearby. Greenery had grown on me over the years, and it was with a little pride and happiness that I signed the purchasing contracts. The house itself was small, as most houses were around these parts, with two bedrooms and a single bath. The view, however, made it all worthwhile.

"Ah, don't say that," Charlie said gruffly. "You know you're always welcome here, Bells."

And I was.

--

It was over the course of the next two days when the moving trucks and associated workers came and went to my new property, unloading furniture and miscellany where I directed. Charlie had visited already and given the property his stamp of approval before leaving me to my own devices, though not before telling me to 'not be a stranger' and visit occasionally.

Living in the same town would make that far easier, I assured him, before tripping over the doorstep as I walked back inside.

I had mostly grown out of my clumsiness, but it surfaced occasionally still. That was one of the more embarrassing incidents of recent years, which was probably a good thing, considering. I'd never live it down if I tripped at work – teenagers were an awfully unforgiving bunch.

I checked over the acceptance letter once again, this time noting the actual address. Forks High School, with a grand approximate total of three hundred and fifty students… that meant smaller class sizes, hopefully. My stint as a substitute teacher in Miami had me a little leery of large classes full of teenagers, though I assumed it was simply because, well, _Miami_. Once I had finished college I had dithered about where to look for a stable job, and then he had recommended Forks.

Which was, apparently, the town with the most overcast days in the _world_.

Lucky for both of us, then. I sighed and finished blow-drying my hair, climbing into bed and falling asleep.

--

I was woken at an ungodly early hour of the morning by shining red eyes and extended fangs in a face five inches from my own.

"Good morning!" the face exclaimed brightly, leaning back a little to give me room. I blinked at him, somewhat blearily, and scowled.

He pouted. "Don't look at me like that, Bell-_a_," he said, dragging out the 'a' in the perpetually annoying way that always made me want to hit him. It being far too early for any rational thought or good conscience to interfere, I did. He took it like a puppy instead of a man, giving me that awfully depressed look that he couldn't manage unless he were acting, so I pushed him off my bed in retaliation.

"It's too… early," I managed with a yawn, running my fingers through my hair to make it somewhat decent. I probably failed, judging by the quickly muffled laugh from the other occupant of the room.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, smiling. "You wouldn't say that if you slept in and were late to your first class." He sighed, then, and looked off to the side. "C'mon, breakfast's ready."

Breakfast was a fresh-baked Danish, straight from the oven, and a cup of blessedly hot coffee. I downed the caffeine fix in a few large gulps, before turning to the pastry. "I think I love you, Tair," I declared then, far more awake and having thoroughly devoured the Danish, which had tasted just as good as it had looked.

"Of course you do," he said smugly, watching me with an intent glitter in his eyes.

I recognized it and sighed, tilting my head back. "Do you-"

"Nah, I went out last night," he interrupted. "Couldn't have you half-alert in the morning, anyway," he continued, "especially having to deal with a bunch of _teenagers_." He shuddered.

"Aw, surely they're not that bad," I teased. "After all, you were one once… a very long time ago. Anyway, you've _pretended_ to be a teenager for years. Surely you haven't given up on that yet…?"

He pinked, a little. Suddenly he stood up, knocking his chair back with a rather impressive _bang_. I gave him an unimpressed look, and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I was just thinking – perhaps I could enroll in high school here?"

"You think about it," I warned. "Remember last time you tried to go off on one of your half-baked schemes?"

That triggered a full-on red flush, and I amused myself by thinking it matched his eyes. "Yeah, okay. Make sure there's no creepy vampires out for your blood before checking in, got it." His eyes studied the table for a second, before turning up to meet my own. "You be careful as well, all right?"

I rolled my eyes. "If there's any trouble, it will definitely be your fault. Even if they're after me," I added, giving him a cheeky smile.

"Sure thing, Bella," he retorted, already halfway up the stairs. "I'm borrowing your shower," he called out, and disappeared behind the bathroom door. I groaned, thanking my foresight in keeping a spare hairbrush and mirror downstairs. Tair seemed to think boiling hot showers were the next best thing since sliced bread, and fogged up any glass in the bathroom beyond repair. Once I could have sworn there was _still_ condensation on the shower door the next morning.

I ran the hairbrush through my hair, frowning a little at my reflection in the mirror. I decided to tie my hair back after some deliberation, the twin scars on the side of my neck faded into simple shadows from disuse. Altair always insisted on drinking from the same place, insisting that I didn't need any more scars. 'What if someone _sees_?' he would say, more reasonable than usual. 'With just one you can say it was a rabid dog or something.'

Rabid dog, indeed. I laughed a little at my thoughts, before glancing up at the clock. Half-an-hour before I had to leave, still. I poured myself another cup of coffee and sat down at the table, staring into its depths.

Tair and I had moved into this easy routine only three years ago, after the rest of his Coven had found him at college and attacked me in his stead. One of the women had a specific talent at manipulating thoughts and feelings – apparently, I was supposed to trick him to fall in love before cheating on him, leaving him angry and despairing enough to attack me himself. Instead, our friendship continued simply as that, though I had registered the manipulation as a weird, nagging poke at the back of my brain.

When Tair had found out, though…

Well. Most of his old Coven was gone now, though he had confided to me that there were probably a few stragglers around still. It was part of the reason he insisted on drinking from humans still; animal blood made a vampire slower, weaker and generally less powerful. Luckily, his talent allowed for relatively simple food without killing people, though they would wake up with an inexplicable headache afterwards. I was immune to his talent – and most other vampire talents, he had cheerfully informed me – which led to me being a repeat customer of sorts. It was, after all, far easier to drink from a willing, immune human than escape to a city bar and find someone drunk enough who would forget their evening even without Tair's interference.

It was oddly intimate, sharing blood, and as long as he fed regularly it was a simple matter of self-control to restrain the vampire-turning venom.

I was shaken from my thoughts when Tair emerged from the shower, throwing the bathroom door open as he noisily stomped down the stairs. He made as much noise as possible whenever he could, and though I didn't understand it, I let him be.

"Bell-_a_," he whined, shaking his golden-blonde hair around him as though it would magically dry. "Your shower sucks."

"Use less hot water and it lasts longer," I reminded him, smiling wryly. "Anyway," I said, looking sharply at the clock, "I have to leave – I don't want to be late on my first day."

"Good luck," he said suddenly, seriously, eyes bright and fierce in the dawning sunlight. "Take care, okay?"

"I will," I assured him, and walked out the door.

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Great? Awful? Let me know! –pokes review button hopefully-


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I'm a little too young and unimaginative to be Stephanie Meyer. Pity, that.

**A/N****:** Ooh, this is a quick update. Freaky stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to continue with the update rate – thanks for all the reviews! This chapter focuses on Bella and her first day at school; who knows, maybe Tair will show up there one day soon. –wink-

**Summary:** AU. When Bella Swan moves to Forks, she's older, wiser, and comes with a vampiric new friend. Now there's this cute student who won't stop glaring at her; what's a girl to do?

* * *

**Chapter ****Two**

"Ah, Miss Swan?"

I turned, a friendly smile already plastered on my face. "Yes?" I asked, sounding faintly reproachful.

The man looked mildly apologetic. I restrained a jump of joy – maybe my 'teacher-tone' worked, after all. "I teach Biology here; I'm to show you to your classroom," he explained, and started walking down the hall. I hurried to catch up. "Max Banner," he introduced himself. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Bella Swan," I offered in reply, shouldering my bag to make it easier to carry. "Any tips for a new teacher?"

"Mm, no – not really," he hummed, considering. "You might want to watch out for the Cu-"

He was cut off by the ringing bell, and we had just reached a door marked 'English'. "Thank you," I murmured, opening the door. The classroom looked depressingly standard, with off-white walls and standard student desks, a larger one in front of the large whiteboard for the teacher. I sighed a little and stepped inside, ready to start the day.

"You're welcome," Max said, smiling. "I'll show you to the Teacher's Lounge at lunch," he finished, quickly retreating to his own classroom before the pounding sound of students' chatter filled the hallways.

I made myself at home on the desk, taking out books and paperwork and spreading them out in a haphazard fashion. Pulling out a bright red whiteboard marker, I went over to the board and wrote 'Miss Swan' in gigantic letters. I stepped back to look at it, before underlining it twice, and adding 'English' underneath.

"There," I said to myself, admiring the effect. There was an oddly choked sound of laughter from behind me, and I spun around to reprimand whoever it was –

- and was despairingly stunned into silence. The girl was short, but wore her height with a self-confidence that was rarely seen in teenagers, with small features and black, spiky hair complimenting her size. 'She looks like a vampire,' I thought irrationally, before shaking off the feeling. Just because _one girl_ was utterly gorgeous didn't mean anything. "Yes, Miss…?" I asked, and somehow managed a realistic smile.

"Alice Cullen, Miss Swan," she said cheerfully. "I just wanted to welcome you here to Forks High School," she added, looking undeniably curious. "You're quite a bit younger than the other teachers here…"

"Yes, I'm just out of college," I said distractedly, looking for an escape. I was saved by the rather massive influx of students into the classroom, and Alice gave me another odd look before being swept into the sea of students scrambling to their seats. She gracefully sat next to a tall, muscular blond boy who seemed unusually good-looking; I felt a tinge of worry, but again pushed it to the back of my mind.

"Well, everyone," I called, a few seconds after everyone was seated. They quieted, though I felt more than saw a few appreciative glances from the boys in the room. "I'm your new English teacher, Bella Swan, though I expect all of you to call me Miss Swan. I've gotten a report on each of you from your previous teacher about your capabilities, though I'd honestly rather determine them myself, which means… pop quiz!" I was certain I sounded madly enthusiastic.

The class groaned.

--

I rolled my eyes and hid my laugh in a cough as Mr. Varner – 'call me Tom,' – lamented on the hopeless students he had in his class this year. "No one appreciates Trigonometry anymore," he sighed over his sandwich, looking completely depressed. "I haven't had an interested student in over five years."

"Maybe because he scares them all away," Lizzy Reed whispered to me, hiding her amused smile by taking a sip from her coffee cup. She taught Home Economics here – as the only two female teachers at Forks, we had bonded almost instantly.

Max Banner looked up from his own lunch, shooting us a 'look'. "I heard that, girls," he warned, smiling, and Tom stopped wallowing in misery to glance up at us, confused.

"What did I miss?"

"Nothing," I laughed. "The bell's about to ring, anyway. I'd rather be a little early this time," I explained, standing up and dusting off my clothes, collecting the quizzes I had been marking.

"How've you been doing?" Lizzy asked, sounding slightly worried. "The kids here aren't _that_ bad, but it must be pretty overwhelming for a new teacher. I know if I had these kids when I was first starting out…" She looked rather horrified at the thought.

"They're not too bad," I reassured her. "I did my work experience in Miami, so anything over here would probably be tame in comparison."

"Just – watch out for the Cullen and Hale kids," Max warned, frowning. "They're a bit… odd."

Considering Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale had been completely perfect and otherwise uninteresting – other than that unusual welcome from Alice – in my earlier class, I shrugged off the warning with another smile. "I'm sure I'll survive," I joked, opening the door.

"Good luck!" all three teachers chimed in unison as I left, and I gave them an acknowledging wave before heading down the hallway.

The halls were blessedly empty as I hurried through, attempting to memorize the layout for future reference. Unfortunately, my memory wasn't quite that good – I found myself in the science halls after a minute of wandering. At least I had a map; I looked it over and started walking more decisively toward my classroom.

Though, by looking at a map, I wasn't looking at the ground. I tripped over a lonely ruler and fell, just managing to get my hands in front of my face to land in a weird, push-up stance, papers scattering around me. I felt my face heat, embarrassed, though I was thankful no one was around to witness my fall-via-ruler.

Well, I thought that until I maneuvered myself into a crouching position, and started picking up the student reports and marked quizzes around me.

Because standing right in front of me was… no one?

I blinked, seeing a flash of bronze-colored hair disappearing around a corner, far faster than any normal person should be able to run. Maybe there _was_ something off with some of the students… though automatically assuming they were vampires would probably come back to hurt me later. Maybe it was something explainable. Maybe.

I sighed, finished picking up the papers, and headed to my classroom, arriving just as the bell rang for students to head to class.

Lucky I had left early, I thought wryly, and slipped into teacher-mode. I sat down at the desk, marking a few more of the pop quizzes I had assigned earlier, and didn't look up until the noise of people moving about had quieted to a reasonable level.

"Hello," I said cheerfully, smiling at the students – and barely prevented myself from stopping mid-speech as I saw the same bronze hair I had seen in the hallway. The owner of the hair, a particularly gorgeous, boyish-looking teen, was glaring at me with a ferocity I really didn't think I deserved – at least, not yet – and was sitting with a very large, curly-haired brunet and a tall, statuesque blonde. All three were extraordinarily stunning and beautiful and _charismatic_, and only my previous vampire experience let me tear my eyes away from their direction, continuing as though I had never paused. "I'm your new English teacher, Bella Swan…"

The class predictably moaned at the pop quiz, and I sat down to finish correcting the previous classes' in the quiet. The three – vampire? – teens finished earlier than I expected, and I motioned for them to place their papers on my desk. They did, the burly brunet shooting me a curious look as he passed, and the blonde looking icily undisturbed. The other – Edward, I read from his quiz paper – had his fists clenched and a look of undisguised _hatred_ as he stiffly put the quiz on the small pile, and as I smiled and leaned forward a little to speak he jumped back, eyes darting everywhere, but specifically not looking at me.

"May I be excused?" he gritted out, and I would have appreciated the quality of his voice if I wasn't so disturbed.

I smiled as kindly as I could under the circumstances. "Of course you may," I said, and blinked a little as he practically ran out the door. The blonde girl simply walked back to her seat, but the taller boy hung back, looking slightly distressed.

"I'm sorry, Miss Swan," he said quietly, apologetically. "Edward isn't usually so – rash. May I…?"

"That's fine, Mr. Cullen," I murmured, too confused to protest. "I do expect you both will be back to normal by tomorrow, though."

He nodded and swept gracefully out of the classroom.

The rest of the students continued with the questions, undisturbed.

Well, I thought weakly, at least I had something interesting to tell Altair once I got home.

* * *

Like it? Hate it? Either way, please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, really. Though I sometimes wish it was.

**A/N****:** After this chapter, I'll probably slow my update rate to once every two days or so. This is a bit of filler, a dollop of background and a pinch of randomness thrown into the blender I try to call my mind. Oh, and the normal 'love heart' thing sort-of failed, so it's an 'x3' instead. And thanks to everyone who reviewed!

**Summary:** AU. When Bella Swan moves to Forks, she's older, wiser, and comes with a vampiric new friend. Now there's this cute student who won't stop glaring at her; what's a girl to do?

* * *

**Chapter Three**

I felt exhausted by the time I arrived home, fiddling with the key in the lock and stepping inside. It was toasty-warm inside, probably thanks to Tair leaving the heater on. Since I wasn't immediately pounced on as soon as the door was open, he had probably gone out.

There was a meal sitting in the microwave, a yellow post-it note on the counter told me, in capital letters. I rolled my eyes, walking over to said microwave, which had a 'push me' sticker over the reheat button. I pushed it before walking over to the fridge.

This time it was a lurid-green post-it note, and Tair had somehow found a pink, sparkly gel pen to write with.

_hi bella,_

_gone out 4 a bit – sposed 2 b sum werewlf ppl round here so i cant eat the locals._

_x3_

_Altair_

The awful punctuation, grammar, and overuse of chat speak was typical Tair. When we had first met in college, I was stunned that an English minor could have such awful writing skills – it was only later that I realized he wrote that way simply to rile me. 'You're fun when you're mad,' he had said unrepentantly, grinning.

The microwave beeped at me again, and I stared at it with some trepidation before opening. The food looked like restaurant-quality, but with Tair's cooking it was impossible to tell. Most of his kitchen experiments turned out mouthwatering, but some were food poisoning in disguise.

Digging a fork in, I eyed a portion before eating it. It was quite nice; I would have to compliment Tair on it later. It was something French, I decided, and spent the next few minutes enjoying my meal.

Tair came back an hour or so later, when I was sitting at the table, the last of the pop quizzes in front of me as I tiredly checked off another wrong answer. "I'm back!" he said loudly, climbing in through the kitchen window, and gave me a beaming smile.

He was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and gloves. Before everything, I had likened the outfit to Rogue's from X-men; now that I knew, the joke wasn't quite as funny. "You went clubbing?" I asked, smiling a little.

"Yeah, sort of," he said, wrinkling his nose. "Hey – did you get that post-it?" I gave him a rather disbelieving stare, and he chuckled sheepishly. "Of course. We-_ll_, apparently Forks is in werewolf-country or something… there was this freaky contract thing a while back. Not that there's any night-life in Forks I could use anyway," he admitted, smiling wryly.

"Werewolf country?" I questioned, frowning slightly. "Won't it be tiring for you to hunt so far away?"

"I'll be fine," he said cheerfully, and shrugged. "Seattle's not too far away, and I can hold off a bit more if I need to." He looked away, out through the window he had climbed through. "I – was just scouting out the area today," he offered, hesitantly. "I can probably reduce it to once every two weeks or so."

"Once every two weeks, and from me over the weekends," I told him firmly. "You said you had heard of Leila being in the U.S. last month, and if she's coming after us you need your strength."

Leila had been part of Altair's old Coven, way back when. She had fought and destroyed another vampire, also in the Coven, about a year before Altair met me. After the attack on me, and Altair's subsequent destruction of his Coven, she had despised Altair for the annihilation that she claimed should have been hers.

And, as usual, she hated me simply by association. As a 'pathetic weak little human', I was a far easier target. I had asked Tair to turn me, once, because of this; the look he had given me was so full of – _sorrowpaindespair_ – emotion I never asked again.

"Fine," Tair grumbled, but the worry in his eyes had faded into good cheer. "So, how was your day?"

I was promptly reminded of exactly _why_ I was so exhausted this evening. I shook my head and sighed, leaning back in my chair to look at Tair fully. "Awful. Absolutely, utterly awful and I really think you should check for vampires around here."

"Vampires? Here?" Tair seemed shocked.

"I think there are five of them," I said, scowling. "Rosalie and Jasper Hale, and Alice, Emmett and Edward Cullen." I sighed, my gaze rising over Tair's worried gaze to rest on his hair, perpetually messy. Through Tair's bright hair, all I could see were Edward's dark, angry eyes. "Edward seems to hate me, though I don't know why – Emmett apologized for him, so apparently he doesn't usually act that way," I murmured. "It's… disturbing. I really don't know why…" 'Why I care so much,' I wanted to add, but didn't.

Tair seemed to sense my darkening mood, an odd glint coming into his eyes that warned me of a swiftly approaching attempt to cheer me up. "Well, you see, sometimes a newly turned vampire is affected by an unusual hormone imbalance, though the consequences only tend to surface around the time of the new moon. They are generally afflicted with high stress levels, leading to irritability, tension and aggression toward others –"

"Are you telling me," I interrupted, staring at him oddly, "that Edward is suffering from some sort of… male vampire PMS?"

He blinked at me innocently. The red color sort of ruined it, though. "Maybe?'

I broke down into giggles. "Are you _serious_?"

"Hey, it might be true!" he defended, grinning. "Anyway, it made you laugh." He waggled his eyebrows at me, making me roll my eyes and hide a smile. He acted like such a kid sometimes. "I'll check into the vampire-thing for you tomorrow, okay? They can't feed here 'cos of that werewolf thing, so you should be pretty safe. And make sure to check their eyes, if you can."

"Sure," I agreed, smiling a little. "And if they're animal-drinkers?"

Tair frowned slightly, brow furrowing. "I can't really kick you out of your job," he started, "so I'd probably recommend just staying away if you're hurt or bleeding or something." He paused for a second, before smiling at me brightly. "It's not like you're going to be bleeding from teaching English, though. Science, on the other hand…"

"I wonder what they do for blood typing and such," I said, thoughtfully. "Would they just not turn up for class that day?"

Tair wrinkled his nose. "That's why I'm glad I was turned a little older than high-school age," he admitted wryly. "At least in college you can choose your electives."

I gave him a smile before covering a yawn, and standing to organize the last of the quizzes I had been marking earlier into a pile. My eyes darted over them, checking for any errors, and I paused again at the neat 'Edward Cullen' written on one page. He had a perfect score, of course. I abruptly remembered that moment in the Science hallways, his red-brown hair disappearing around the corner, running as fast as he could away from me.

"Bella?" Tair's voice was unusually hesitant, and I heard the scrape of his chair as he stood up, the deliberately heavy footsteps as he walked around behind me. His arms were cool and firm as they wrapped around me in a hug, his head on my shoulder a welcome reminder of his presence as I relaxed into the embrace.

"Thanks," I whispered after a minute.

He smiled into my shoulder in reply, and pulled back a little to stand on tip-toe, reaching up and pulling my hair out of its ponytail. "Much better," he remarked, and threaded his fingers through my hair to work out the kinks. "There."

Tair stepped back and gently turned me around, as though to look at the effect. I smiled, weakly, and he shook his head and sighed. "You're hopeless, Bella," he mumbled, but the smirk on his face told me he was joking. "I don't know what to do with you," he continued with another put-upon sigh, and turned to head up the stairs.

"Oh!" he exclaimed suddenly, half-way up, and turned to glance at me from the corner of his eyes. "And what's this I hear about a cute vampire student you just can't stop thinking about? What's-his-name, Edward Cullen?" he asked teasingly, and darted into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

"Altair!"

* * *

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